


Untimely

by The_Shy_One



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Wrath of Darth Maul - Ryder Windham
Genre: Darth Maul Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt, Fix-It, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, One Shot, Other, Planet Mustafar (Star Wars), Rescue, Time Travel, Young Darth Maul
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:00:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29502357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Shy_One/pseuds/The_Shy_One
Summary: Obi-Wan finds himself in a different time on Mustafar after leaving the battle, Anakin lost to the Dark side. He wanders and finds a hidden building, holding someone strong in the Forced locked in there. He decides to rescue them.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Maul
Comments: 11
Kudos: 94





	Untimely

He was on Mustafar still. But the scene was different, the lava flows in a different place than when he battled Anakin and the mountain range a different shape than before. Obi-Wan stared, the heat of the planet pressing down on him as he tried to make sense of the changes that happened around him. There was also the fact that there wasn’t despair, fear and everything else swirling together in the Force from so many of his brethren being slaughtered. They were alive, they were  _ alive _ and doing well from what Obi-Wan can sense.

It had to be from before the war, when there wasn’t a darkness blanketing everything, making it difficult to sense where the Sith was. Obi-Wan breathes, lungs protesting against the air, not made for the heat or the atmosphere of Mustafar.

He felt disconnected from everything, reeling from the fact that the man - boy,  _ his boy _ \- that he’d raised, nurtured as a Padawan to Knighthood turned out this way, turned out to have so much vitriol hate to turn to the Dark side. 

That he took the Clone Army and cut down the Jedi, all the way down to the foundlings in the creches, barely old enough to hold the practice sabers. Obi-Wan wants to deny it, wants to shy away from it because how could Anakin, Anakin, the boy who delighted in teaching the other foundlings curses in Huttese and tinkering with machines in Obi-Wan’s room. He wanted to but knew he couldn’t.

Couldn’t because he had a hand in it. He couldn’t recoil when aided in this even unknowingly.

Taking a breath in and choking on the hot and stifling air of Mustafar for a few moments, Obi-Wan wanders over the landscape. He tries to find something, either a ship to get him off this planet or a place to get away from the harsh effects that bore down on him the longer he stayed on the surface. The Force - much clearer, so  _ much  _ clearer - guides him all the while, pushing him in a direction that he trusts will lead him to something.

It takes few hours of climbing over sharp rocks and avoid lava flows and breathing in the air before he feels something in the Force. It’s not particularly strong, closer to how the younglings feel when they were discovering how the Force worked. But there was something to the signature that feels familiar, feels a bit lighter after everything that Obi-Wan saw from Anakin’s actions.

He follows it, feeling deep in his gut, his body that it was right. That he was supposed to follow it.

It leads him to a building, dark and built into the mountain, hiding into the structure so that nobody but those who knew it was there would be able to find it. There’s a darkness that shrouds it, similar to the Sith that the Jedi had spent the war trying to find. It wasn’t as steeped in the dark side, earlier in time before he had gained enough influence over the Dark side to blindside them all.

Among the darkness was that one bright spot, still within the building. It was stronger now that he was closer, pulsing brightly in the Force, almost as if excited. Whoever it was, he would come to their rescue, bring them along as he escapes Mustafar. Obi-Wan follows this bright spot to an entrance, pulling out his lightsaber where he clipped it to his belt, raising it to make an opening for himself. It takes only a few minutes to make a hole big enough to duck into, the sides far enough away to keep from burning himself.

The building was quiet, nobody there to greet him as he walked in, lights in the ceiling giving him a clear view of the room.

Obi-Wan goes down hallways, hearing nothing besides the low sound of a few mouse droids cleaning the building. It’s was much bigger, most of it built into the mountain. Whoever Sidious was, he built this wanting to make sure that it was hidden, but big enough to house what he needed to get done in secret. 

The Force guides him towards the bright spot, nudging him insistently as he drew nearer. The signature was familiar, his mind inching to figure out who. But it was a struggle after everything that happened that connects that should have come easily to him. But when reaching out, to see if he could skim what they were feeling, they pulled their shields tighter, almost as if they were scared.

Obi-Wan paused, wondering what Sidious was doing with a child, a  _ young  _ child who was sensitive in the Force. They barely felt older than the younglings in the creche - and that turns his stomach, imaging what kind of things that the Sith could do to them, to bring them to the dark side. There must have been a few before Maul, all failing in some way, all disposable to him if they weren’t meeting up to the standard he had for his plan.

Maybe that was worse than knowing what Maul was put through, how he was twisted to follow a path he didn’t decide himself.

He moves on, hands clenching the handle of his saber, anger and disgust at what Sidious had done to achieve his power. They move through him, released into the Force once he acknowledges them for what they were. Fuel for righteous wrath, something he’d seen from those who were pushed too far after seeing something inexcusable.

This was his moment, his turn for such a thing after everything. If he couldn’t save Anakin from himself - too late, he noticed  _ too  _ late for Anakin -, he could lease help one unrightfully ensnared in Sidious’s plan.

They were somewhere to the outside of the building when he stopped in front of a door. It was metal and had a slot, obviously used to push trays in for whoever was on the other side. They were locked in, no way out besides someone opening the door. Obi-Wan reaches out through the Force once more, hoping to give them a heads up that he wasn’t here and he wasn’t here to harm them.

They still had their shields up, pulled so tight that Obi-Wan could feel it pressing down on them. There was also the fear, fear so strong that he had to take a step back with how it reached out to strangle him s it leaked from the youngling’s shield. As if he were something to keep away, to keep from causing more pain.

His heart ached, wondering what Sidious had done to earn such fear from a youngling, so primal that felt his heartbeat climbing just being near it.

Obi-Wan breaks the lock to the door, slowly opening it. There was only a single light, hanging from the ceiling as it illuminated the whole room along with the round window on the far wall that showed the red glow of Mustafar. He didn’t see a youngling anywhere, but he could still feel their fear, leaking out from their shields. There was a bed - the only piece of furniture in the room - and he knew that’s where they were hiding.

He doesn’t step into the room, only takes a seat at the doorway. The metal was warm beneath his legs as he had the lightsaber return to its hilt. He hides it in the sleeve of his robes, there in case something besides the youngling tries to attack him. He waits, waits for the youngling to come out by themselves.

Time moves and Obi-Wan waits. He hears snatches of breath from beneath the bed, trying to keep themselves from being found. The primal fear stays, making Obi-Wan tense as he sits. But he doesn’t go further in the room, making sure that the youngling came out on their own.

He wouldn’t snatch them, no matter how much it would hurt to leave them behind.

At some point, he hears the light sound of a small body moving over the metal floor. It was a light sound, something that had been practiced to keep from being noticed. That makes his heart clench, sad that at such a young age they had to learn such a skill.

Their face peeks from behind the blanket, yellow eyes glowing in the darkness beneath the bed. Obi-Wan also sees the familiar red and black markings, stretched out over their face, giving away who it was.

It was Maul. A child and so scared that Obi-Wan wishes he could reach out and hold him tight. But he doesn’t. He can’t, not if he wants a bit of trust from him. Rushing things would make it worse, would probably make things worse for Maul if he was found wandering outside his room.

Maul pulls himself out from underneath the bed, leaning against the frame all without managing to take his eyes off of Obi-Wan, watching him with cautious fear. Obi-Wan doesn’t make a move to come closer, just stays still. Maul was so much smaller here, barely going to reach his knees if they were to stand side by side. But it doesn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. He was a Zebrak, tiny horns and teeth sharp enough to use to distract Obi-Wan long enough to escape.

And that doesn’t even take into account that he could use the Force to aid him as well.

“Who are you?” Maul asks, at last, his yellow eyes still focused on Obi-Wan. It was different from the voice he’d come to hear from Maul, sounding much younger and stilted in Basic.

“I’m Obi-Wan,” He said, keeping his tone light.

“Why are you here?” Still stilted and cautious, Maul inched closer to him. 

“I’m lost,” Obi-Wan starts, still keeping the same tone. “I was wandering over the surface and found this place to take shelter. What’s your name, youngling?”

“Maul.” Short, clipped, the opposite of the man he would know in the future. Then,” Why are you...so bright in the Force?”

“I’m a Jedi.” There was a flash of teeth at that answer, so tiny and bright as a weak-sounding snarl erupted from the boy’s mouth. But it remained the same snarling face that Maul would often through to either intimidate his enemies or in frustration. “Now, now, no need to be that way. I’m not here to harm you.”

“The droid says otherwise,” Maul said to him, similar to how Anakin once talked to him as a young teenager. Obi-Wan’s heart clenches at such a memory as he remembers how he ended up in this time period in the first place.

Maul tilts his head, obviously sensing the turmoil inside him. “I thought Jedi didn’t feel bad things.”

Obi-Wan doesn’t answer for a moment, examining the feelings and releasing them into the Force. Then,“ We feel them, Maul. But we don’t use them to aid us. Not like the man who’s keeping you here.”

Maul stiffens at that, backing back to the bed. The fear returns and his yellow eyes widen, so scared, scared that Sidious was here. “He’s not here Maul. He’s not I promise.”

“You  _ don’t _ know!” Maul shouts, hands gripping the banket, fear palpable in the Force. “You  _ don’t _ know! You would never hear him, you  _ don’t _ know!”

Obi-Wan doesn’t try to say or do anything to calm Maul, knowing it would make the situation worse. Maul tears at the blanket, levitating it as the Force responding to him. The bed frame also creaks, straining under the pressure that Maul’s unconsciously putting on it.

It drains Maul after a few minutes, leaving him lean against the bedframe, tired. “You don’t know, he always comes when you don’t think he will,” Maul said softly, voice breaking. He was close to tears and yet he won’t let them fall.

Another thing that Sidious must have beaten out of him.

“I’ll protect you if that’s the case. We can escape, find help to defeat him.”

“It’s not  _ that _ easy!  _ Never _ that easy!”

So young, so young if makes Obi-Wan wish he could scoop up Maul and hold him close. “Am I lying to you, Maul?”

That gets Maul to pause, looking at him strangely. “Use the Force, search to find any lie I’ve said.”

Obi-Wan waits. He feels Maul tentatively uses the Force to search for any lies, opening himself up to the boy. Maul, a bit clumsy, but cautious as he searches. Obi-Wan waits, he waits until the boy retreats.

“You don’t lie.” There was a spark of hope, something that Maul hasn’t had for a long time. He comes closer, eyes focused on Obi-Wan. “You’ll take me with you, escape from here?”

“Yes. I’m sure there’s a ship here somewhere.” Obi-Wan said. He watches as Maul comes closer, crawling on his knees, hesitating to reach out to him. “Not like your Master to have no backups in case you need to leave quickly.”

Maul’s face twists, a snarl erupting from him. “Stealing it will ruin his day.”

“It will. And it’ll make yours better.” Obi-Wan says before he realizes that he shouldn’t. But it causes a smile on the boy’s face, bright and filled with glee. Perhaps he could slide a bit on the morality of the message when this looks like to be the happiest to see Maul. “But for now, we have to find it.”

Maul comes closer, almost touching his knees. So small, so young, Maul barely had a chance to be something that wasn’t influenced by Sidious. He deserved a second chance.

“You will take down the droid?” Hesitation, but still an underlying bit of hope to his words.

And it also explained how Sidious was able to leave Maul alone as a child. “Of course. I’m protecting you in our escape from here.”

Maul blinks at this. As if he’d never had someone vouch for anything they said before. Which he realizes is true.”Come, we must leave.”

As he stands up, so does Maul - who continues to watch him. He was steady on his feet, all aliens who were predators always were. But he was so small, barely reaching past Obi-Wan’s knees. Obi-Wan resists pulling him close, deciding it was better for the youngling to come to him rather than the other way around.

He couldn’t rescue Anakin, but he could rescue Maul, rescue a lost soul who never deserved what Sidious had done to him. A Maul who had a choice to be what he wanted to be, not plagued by the memories of what Sidious had done in the name of teaching.

Obi-Wan walks down the hallway, guided by the Force and he hears the soft patter of feet, reassuring him that Maul was following him. It was a pleasant sound, something that soothed his soul as it continued. 

Maul might not trust him now, but at least he felt safe enough to come with him. That mattered more than anything else for Obi-Wan.

**Author's Note:**

> I experienced a roller coaster of emotions after reading the one chapter for The Wrath of Maul and needed to do a bit of a fix-it fic to cleanse myself. A few expressed a lot of interest when I posted that thought to the internet and so I wrote this, fueled by their excitement. 
> 
> Hopefully, it was a fun one-shot to read! :D


End file.
